obedience is better than sacrifice

Good evening/morning brothers and sisters,
We read yesterday how Saul and the Israelite army did not totally destroy the Amalekites, but took the best animals. When confronted with this, Saul claims the intention all along was to sacrifice them to God. It's hard to say if he's being honest here. In any case, Samuel claims that sacrifice isn't the most important thing to God; obedience is. In a similar way, all the worship in the world is not as important as following God's calling in our lives. We need to walk the walk and talk the talk.

Blessings,
Sam

1 Samuel 15:13-23

¹³When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.” ¹⁴But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?” ¹⁵Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” He replied, “Speak.” ¹⁷Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”

²⁰Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” ²²And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. ²³For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”